Beyond The Gate
by Outre
Summary: The world is at war, superhuman beings known as 'Contractors' are reaking havoc wherever they going. Too many organizations control them, yet nobody knows who they are. They are the stars now, the old ones are gone, with them the planet we loved. OC Main.
1. The Masked Man

**Beyond The Gate **

**Chapter 1 – The Masked Man**

Blaring sirens, echoing and screaming in the night – banshees screaming in the dark night.

The cops had to be at least within a couple of blocks. Damn those stars. The authorities always showed up while I was doing something important, there were time limits on every action I could make. Or at least the ones that I found were important and not mundane, which was just about all of them with this job. I had a few close calls at the start, and soon had to learn to plan escape routes, otherwise the cops would have me. If that happened, I'd be dead, or worse… I could be sent back into that damned gate, for whatever purposes those moron scientists thought was useful.

I ran for the building's edge, jumping onto the neighboring rooftop, rolling when I landed to ease the force of the jump - my orange hair whipping around. It was sad that I was skilled enough in this method of escape, or that I should ever need to use it. My job was meant to stay counties away from the attention of any government connected agency, though quite obviously that was not working. If things had stayed the way they were before, none of this would be necessary – there would be no cops following my every move in real time. I ran for the next rooftop - my runners squeaking a few times against the concrete - the door to the stairwell was always open over there; it would be a simple matter to get to the bottom and blend back into the thin crowds still around at this time of night.

Near the edge of the building, something snagged my jacket sleeve, upsetting my balance. I turned to detach my arm, and pulled backwards – fast.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at the dark figure that had snagged my arm. He stepped forward, the light from the streets below barely showing the white mask over his face. I stepped back and placed a hand on the sharp dagger at my waist. There was nothing good about meeting a strange man and even less so when meeting him on a rooftop.

"Just hand over the information." His voice was icy cold, contractor cold. Contractors are heartless killing machines with human faces and powers beyond anything the rest of humanity could measure against. This strange meeting was bound to get worse.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied sharply, copying his tone. "Maybe you should keep your dirty contractor nose out of other people's business."

A small silver blade flashed into his hand as he stepped towards me. Automatically I stepped backwards, keeping a tight grip on my dagger. A single dagger wasn't going to do me much good in a fight against a contractor, but it was better than going in unarmed, or surrendering.

"Hand over the information. You know you can't win this fight." Stupid contractor logic, he wasn't going to get me with that one.

"Over my dead body!" I shouted at him and took off in a run towards the neighboring rooftop. Let him get caught by the cops instead, serves him right for wasting my time. Pushing as hard as I could against the edge of the building, I jumped, rolling onto the rooftop just in time to see the small blade slice through the air above me.

Without thinking I made a grab for it, catching sight of the thin wire attached to the handle as I gripped it loosely. Glancing back over at the other rooftop, the man started to glow as he activated his contract. Sensing the danger I flung the blade back at him, only just fast enough to avoid the full power of his attack. My hand stung, but it was a good pain, it told me who the man was.

Suddenly he was hurdling towards me; I moved back taking a defensive stance, ready to pull the dagger from my belt when a black cat appeared in front of the man. I was not having a good night, how could two individuals appear without my notice within ten minutes of each other so easily? The masked man stopped and looked down at the cat for a moment, before looking over his shoulder and leaving. Seconds later cops spilled onto the roof, weapons ready.

Cursing, I ducked as bullets whizzed past, darting for cover behind the stairwell. Pausing to judge my timing to dart out again, I was just about to move when something started to buzz in my pocket. Another curse on the tip of my tongue, I answered the cell phone, the annoyance in my tone making the answer sharp.

"Dan. The cops are on your tail," The voice said monotone in a way only a doll could pull off. Dolls, of course, were different from contractors – they had no free will of their own, just to get them to look after themselves you had to program it in. And they weren't killers, more like observers, or 'mediums' as those government types liked to call them – dolls can send out surveillance but only through materials.

"I know that, Cai! They are shooting at me!" I shouted back into the phone as more bullets whizzed past.

"They think you are BK-201. They plan on capturing you and returning the information that was stolen."

"Will you tell me something useful?" There was a fumbling sound over the phone and another voice spoke, detailing all the doll could relay about the cops position. Once they finished I hung up and pocketed the phone; I had one more chance to get out of here before I was cornered and arrested. Hesitating for a moment, I darted out, using whatever cover I could as I made my way to the stair well.

Inside the stairwell, I ran down three or four stairs at a time, desperate to beat the cops out onto the street where I could get away easier. Of course, if the cops were already down there, I'd have a harder time getting away than I'd had on the roof – on foot I wasn't anywhere near fast enough to out run a car. Flying out of the door at the ground floor, I made for the street, stopping in the middle to get my bearings.

A screech of tires sounded down the street, and I spun around only just managing to jump out of the way as a dark coloured sports car pulled up. Recognizing the driver, I got into the car and it took off as fast as it had appeared leaving the cops far behind.


	2. Back To The Day Job

**Beyond The Gate**

**Chapter 2 - Back To The Day Job**

"Good job at getting that info, kid, the bosses were pleased that we didn't screw up this time." The middle aged white man muttered to himself while he read the newspaper, sitting on the park bench behind me. Xiao was what I knew him as, though to the general public he probably had another name, we all did. That was why we were meeting this way, Cai sitting to my right feigning interest with something off in the distance, Xiao on the other bench with a newspaper, I repeatedly cleaning a pair of glasses I didn't need. It was easier if we didn't draw attention to the Contractor called 'Dan', the Doll called 'Cai', or the human called 'Xiao'.

"Those sexist bastards still thinking we can't get anything done right, I hate them." I muttered back to Xiao as he turned to the next page.

"I thought Contractors didn't have emotions, dear. Don't get your panties in a twist, it's not like you've been doing much to prove them wrong."

"Contractors aren't Dolls, we still feel things. Did you have a point in calling us here, or do you just like telling me how to wear my panties?" A moment of silence, then a large envelope slid through the back of the seats. Placing the glasses away, I picked up the envelope and pulled out the contents.

"That's the police report from the other night; apparently you got the attention of some important people." I scanned over the copied sheets of the police report, noting things such as names and what could only be my description. "Came straight from the 'Foreign Affairs' office, and those people have a nose for Contractors like you wouldn't believe. Though not perfect, they've got you pinned as a Contractor but they think you're BK-201."

"The masked fool? Ha, his skills could never match up to mine." I chuckled, thinking of how easily he had given up our fight. He had probably been listening to that stupid Contractor logic of his; and what was with the cat? Pushing that thought from my head, I went back to scanning the document.

"The bosses want you to go after him."

"What? Why would they want that, what's so important about that man?"

"He knows too much." There was something wrong here, there was no way that they were just going to send as after another Contractor for a reason as lame as that.

"He is a Contractor, they all know too much." I grumbled, feeling sure that it wouldn't be too long before they used those words against me. That was the undeniable life of a Contractor, the moment they knew too much was the moment they became unusable.

"Look, kid, I'm not here to argue with you. My orders were to pass this on to you." Xiao folded up his newspaper and stood up. "What you do with them is your problem." Xiao left then, blending easily back into the crowds and disappearing from sight. I stayed seated for a moment longer, pondering what his last comment had meant. Could the bosses be planning something, so that it wouldn't matter whether I chose to follow orders or not? That was insane though, how could they manipulate BK-201 and me into another confrontation, unless... unless they were his bosses as well! What would they get out of that though?

Standing, I took Cai's hand, and we headed off in the opposite direction that Xiao had gone. To anybody that looked at us, we were just a pair of sisters taking a walk in the park, though we were far from that. Cai was a doll who had the ability to send out spectres through a medium that was present in almost every piece of current day technology. I was... well a Contractor, which really explained everything.

Taking the long way around, we headed back to Cai's place, I keeping my eyes open for anyone following us. As much as I knew that our cover was pretty much unbreakable by the random people on the streets, there were those out there who could spot who we were and would come after us with violent plans in mind. It wasn't that long ago that someone had come after me like that, and being as unexpecting as I was, got caught it their ambush. With no other means of escape, and my life on the line as they proceeded to bloody me to a pulp, I activated my contract which to this day still feels like a breach of my survival instinct. The attackers were erased from the face of existence that day, and ever since I have been careful to watch my back.

"Dan, you are acting too human," Cai chimed in, her voice a monotone compared to the colours of the world. We had stopped walking; now standing outside the small apartment building Cai called home. Annoyed at her comment, I forcefully pulled my hand from hers.

"You are not my keeper," I grumbled, pushing her towards the building entrance.

"Sometimes I wonder," she muttered back before entering the building. I stared blankly at the door she had disappeared behind, wondering how long she had the ability to back-mouth me like that. The general understanding was that dolls were only programmed with the basic stuff, like how to look after themselves – so why was it that I just got back-mouthed by one?

Muttering some choice curses at the door Cai had closed behind her, I pulled my jacket hood over my head leaving quickly as storm clouds rolled in, ruining what had started off as a nice day. And I had still yet to decide my course of action concerning those 'orders'.


	3. Confrontation

**Beyond The Gate**

**Chapter 3 – Confrontation**

Keeping my head down, I took some of the more notably busy streets as I made my way back to my apartment. It was easier this way for me to blend into the crowds and lose any potential followers, hostile or not, and once I had spent enough time in the crowd I would leave for the solitude of my apartment. Hmph, I guess I'm using the term 'apartment' in some serious vagueness here; the place was little more than a room with an adjacent bathroom. Turning a corner to an empty street, I bumped into a stranger, the force of it allowing me to make a convincing fall onto my ass rather than my reflex action, which would have be to slam my palm up into their jaw, successfully smacking them upside the head.

"Oh my, I am so sorry," came the soft voice of the stranger, and looking up I saw a young man with black hair and a green jacket. He extended his hand to me, a bashful expression twisting his features, "Here let me help you up."

"No it was my fault," I replied in a small voice, taking his hand and pulling myself to my feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going." We stood together awkwardly for a moment before saying goodbye and heading off in our separate directions.

A few blocks later, I was standing outside my apartment building, the beautiful facade of the building in complete contrast to the inside. There was that strange feeling of eyes on my back as I walked towards the door, but as I glanced around I saw nobody around. I couldn't shrug off the feeling though, even as I entered the building and took a flight of stairs to the second floor. Coming to the door of my apartment, I noticed a leak in the roof by the door, and followed the water down the wall with my eyes. Water pooled on the hard floor against the wall, I gave it a disgusted look before turning back to open my apartment, but only half turned the key when something caught my eye.

Something had appeared in the puddle, and it went to disappear again as I turned to it, but it was already too late I'd seen what the thing was. It was a glowing blue transparent Spectre, from a doll, but whose doll? My heart racing, I hurried into the apartment, throwing closed the door behind me, and grabbing a knife from the counter. There had been someone following me, someone who knew that I would come back here, and that someone knew of the dolls powers. Bad luck seems to follow me everywhere these days. Slowing I stepped backwards towards the wall opposite the door, keeping the window there in the corner of my eye, and close enough to escape through. There was a terrible crunching sound as the door flew open again, slamming into the wall; I cringed, the land-lord was sure to lecture me about the damage.

The figure that entered through the doorway had my blood shimmer that bit closer to boiling; he had black hair and was dressed in a long jacket with a white mask to match.

"BK-201, The Black Reaper," I hissed, changing my grip on the knife so it would be easier to cause fatal injuries.

"Eraser, where is the information?" He questioned through the mask, using the nickname I had been unable to shake off sense long before I became a Contractor, it seemed something's would always stay the same.

"Seriously, you're still after that?" I laughed, flashing a tight smile, sure that he was scowling at me from under the mask. "Okay, I'll tell you... over my dead body!" Lunging forward, I aimed the knife for his gut, but he was fast dodging the attack and countering with one fluid movement. Pulling up quickly and swinging away, I managed to only let that blade of his nick my arm. _Shit, he is fast_, I thought watching for his next move as I circled him, trying to position myself nearer to some of the other dangerous items I had stuffed in the apartment. I wasn't ready for his next move though, and he caught me completely off guard as he threw the blade in his hand, causing the thin wire attached to the handle to tangle around my throat.

Panicking slightly, I gasped for air as the blade dropped pulling the wire tighter. There was no way I could get away like this, my fingers unable to break the wire's hold on my throat, and the wire too strong for the knife still in my hand. Desperate, I threw the knife at him, but this simply caused him to move sideways, adding more tension to the wire, forcing my feet to shift forward.

"Where is it?" echoed the contractor's voice. Inside my head, contractor logic buzzed at me, stating that continuation was more important than the cause. True to colours, I ignored it and made my own choice.

"Somewhere you'll... never find it..." I spat, struggling to breathe more as I pulled tighter on the wire. If I could pull hard enough, suddenly, I'd be able to falter his grip – dropping back suddenly should be able to give me that kind of effect. Before I could make my move, BK-201 started to glow that contractor blue, the only warning to activation of his contract. Things played before me in slow motion, the blue glow increased around the man, and I felt something dangerous charging towards me. Reaching my hands up, I clawed at my throat, fingernails trying to pull the wire from my flesh but it was too late, and I cried out as I played the final card dealt to me.


	4. Truths

**Beyond The Gate**

**Chapter 4 – Truths**

Panting, my body moving backwards without permission until it leaded back against the wall, a hand of mine touched my throat, still pained from the wire that had dug into it a moment before. I could hear my brain whirling as I recovered from the shock of my own actions – I'd sworn never to use that power since then. The current moment however, was not the time to think about that, as a twined blade cut into the wall beside my head. Shifting away, my heart started to pound faster as I let a bit of panic flood my system, knowing that my payment would strike me soon, and with the masked BK-201 still around it would spell worse news than normal.

Pushing off from the wall, I ran at the masked man, grabbing the twined blade that had dropped to the floor earlier, and twisting it up to run through his gut. He proved faster than me however, dodging that move, and the one I made after that before catching my wrist with his gloved hand. Tightening his grip on my wrist, it shot pain into my hand automatically opening it and dropping the blade once more to the ground. He then pulled my wrist above my head, leaning down to look me in the eyes through his mask – though I couldn't see his eyes through the mask, I figured that was what he was doing.

"One last chance, where'd you hide that information you stole?" It was odd to have his face this close to mine and yet not be able to feel his breath as he spoke. I glared at him, trying to hold the typical contractor like coldness over my features.

"You think I'll tell you? What will you do if I don't, kill me? The Syndicate will kill me the moment they find out I breathed a word of it to you." Even though the mask on his face hadn't moved, I could have almost sworn then that he was giving me a furious look. Tugging to free my wrist from his hand, I stepped backwards. That was the moment when he activated his contract again, the blue glow forming around him, pain suddenly screaming through my body like every cell was being ripped apart from the inside. I couldn't tell where the pain was coming from, or if I was even standing up right anymore. Sound did not make it to my ears, nor light to my eyes, the pain was just so intense that nothing else mattered. There was only one thought in my brain coherent through the pain; where was BK-201? I couldn't let him get the better of me, even with this pain holding me down.

If he gets the better of me… If he…

"Dan?" I groaned at the voice, shifting away from it. "Dan, if you don't open your eyes, I'm getting Xiao."

"Xiao can't get me here, I'm dead." My voice was hoarse as I responded to the monotonous voice that sounded like Cai's.

"You're not dead." Cai's voice replied, and I opened my eyes immediately. Looking down at me was Cai's pink heart shaped face, curly brown hair framing it. Groaning again, I rolled onto my side away from her, a damp cloth falling from my forehead as I did so.

"I don't know which is worse then," I muttered, staring at the floor of my apartment. "Cai, how did I survive? Why didn't he kill me?"

"Why would I know?" Cai looked at me with a blank expression on her face as she said this, and I cursed how annoyed that made me. If this lifeless doll was going to say things like that to me, the least she could do was act more like a person that would say those things.

"Finally decided to join us did you, Dan?" Xiao spoke as he entered my apartment, his polished black shoes venting the man's frustration as they noisily moved across the thinly carpeted floor. "Did you think I'd let you lie down on the job, especially after you let BK-201 get the jump on you?"

"I wasn't lying down on the jo-" I cut myself off then as I realized something. "How did you know that it was BK-201 that got the jump on me?"

"I overheard you and Cai talking," he replied after a short pause, a suspicious expression passing over his face. Something wasn't right here, I'd never said that it was BK-201 – that annoying masked man – that was the one to jump me, so how did Xiao know that?

"Ludicrous, you couldn't have overheard it because I never said it." I watched him carefully as I sat up, feeling that my body was pain free after paying my contract.

"I see that the infamous Yi-min isn't just the simple beauty she used to play herself up to be-"

"Don't use that name, Xiao! I'll kill you if that name ever comes from your lips again…" I stopped talking as Cai grabbed my arm, but I didn't need her warning, I saw the pistol Xiao was carrying the moment his hand moved for it.

"You kill me? Now that is a laughable idea, Yi-min the eraser killing someone. You who could delete a man's entire history faster than the blink of an eye?" Xiao smiled to himself as he shook his head, pausing in his monologue for a moment to do so. "I should have known that Hei wouldn't kill you, he has become increasingly… unreliable recently."

"Hei?" The name didn't ring any bells, so why did Xiao mention it? Could it have been…

"The masked man," Cai whispered, her lips barely moving as our eyes locked.

"But never mind that, the higher ups will deal with him soon enough. First I have two mistakes to correct-" Xiao aimed his gun square at me and pulled the trigger. The noise of it was so loud that a barely heard myself cried out as I was pushed back onto the floor, a dead weight landing on top of me. I couldn't breathe as I tried to mentally find where I had been shot; how was I still alive when Xiao has been standing so close? He couldn't be that bad of a shot… could he? "Damn that doll. Her programming was stronger than I thought. Your turn now, Dan."

"No!" I cried out, my brain whizzing at high speeds as I activated my contract. Xiao will pay for what he has done, for killing Cai… for trying to kill me – I'll erase that horrible man from the face of existence, it'll be as if he was never born!

Stumbling through the street, I couldn't remember which way I was going, only that I wanted to keep moving. There was something wrong with my payment, the pain this time was not the same intensity as I expected, and it was lasting too long. Normally it would hit me all at once, and I would pass out – at the moment I was lucky if I could keep my mind off of it for long enough to cross the road. I bumped into a few people as I went, many of them continuing on without a word, some muttering something that I pretended not to hear.

Cai, that poor girl, she had so much life left to her - barely eighteen when I first met her four years ago – and she threw herself in front of me… to save my life. Where do they go, the people like us, the ones labelled Contractors and Dolls? Was there a place out there… a Heaven for the supernatural?

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I bumped into another person, not looking at them as I spoke.

"Miss, are you alright?" The voice, I recognized it from somewhere, could it be?

"You're the one they call 'Hei'?"

"How did you-?" There was that steel edge in his voice, the one that BK-201 used both times I met him. This was the man that had been sent to kill me, the man Xiao had used to turn on us. I had lost my team because of Xiao's… reason, because this man didn't kill me when he should have.

"Xiao told me. He is the reason you knew where to find me, about the information, the reason the Syndicate of all people sent you."

"What are you going to do?" I laughed.

"What can I do? My team is dead, I'm nothing without them and there is no one else-" I felt a sharp pain in my chest, my hand reaching up to grab the pained flesh, a warm liquid pouring through my fingers. It was impossible to breath, and every attempt caused more pain – I felt my knees give way, but the ground never came in contact with my body.

Breathe… must breathe… take another breath…


End file.
